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Alexander Balus

Introduction

The late 1740s produced from Handel a quartet of oratorios with distinctly militaristic overtones. Handel had started writing Judas Maccabaeus during the autumn of 1745, but temporarily shelved the work to compose The Occasional Oratorio. First performed in London in February 1746, The Occasional Oratorio was written to stir English hearts at a time when there was a very real possibility that Bonnie Prince Charlie might seize the English throne. Handel completed Judas in the summer of 1746 but its first performance was not held until April 1747; it was a great success. Buoyed by his return to popularity, and with his bank account once again replenished, Handel started looking towards the next season. He commissioned two more libretti from the author of Judas, the Reverend Thomas Morell: both took as their subject matter warlike and splendidly bloodthirsty episodes in Old Testament history. Although Alexander Balus was completed first by Handel (composition was commenced on 1 June 1747 and completed on 4 July), Joshua (written from 19 July to 19 August) was in the event heard first by the Covent Garden audience, being premiered on 9 March 1748. Alexander Balus was first performed on 23 March, and repeated twice more in the season. Its planned revival in 1751 was cancelled due to the death of the Prince of Wales, and its only other outing during Handel’s lifetime was a single performance in 1754, when it was much altered to take into account a new cast.

There is a much-repeated account of Morell’s dealings with Handel which is nonetheless worth recounting:

The next year he desired another and I gave him Alexander Balus, which follows the history of the foregoing in the Maccabees … The 3d [Act] begins with an incomparable Air, in the affettuoso style, intermixed with the chorus Recitative that follows it. And as to the last Air, I cannot help telling you, that, when Mr Handell first read it, he cried out D—n your Iambics. ‘Dont put yourself in a passion, they are easily Trochees.’ Trochees, what are Trochees? ‘Why, the very reverse of Iambics, by leaving out a syllable in every line, as instead of Convey me to some peaceful shore …Lead me to some peaceful shore.’ That is what I want. ‘I will step into the parlour, and alter them immediately.’ I went down and returned with them altered in about 3 minutes; when he would have them as they were, and set them most delightfully accompanied with only a quaver, and a rest of 3 quavers.

There is another frequently-told story, this time recounted by John Taylor and in all probability apocryphal. Delightful enough even just as a fable to make it worth the telling, if true it might relate to the composition of the same aria:

One fine summer morning he [Morell] was roused out of bed at five o’clock by Handel, who came in his carriage a short distance from London. The doctor went to the window and spoke to Handel, who would not leave his carriage. Handel was at the time composing an oratorio. When the doctor asked him what he wanted, he said, ‘What de devil means de vord billow?’ which was in the oratorio the doctor had written for him. The doctor, after laughing at so ludicrous a reason for disturbing him, told him that billow meant wave, a wave of the sea. ‘Oh, de wave’, said Handel, and bade his coachman return, without addressing another word to the doctor.

Setting aside the likelihood that Handel would probably have possessed a decent dictionary (Bailey’s, if not Johnson’s), had already set the word in the 1732 Acis and Galatea, more likely would have sent his servant with a note or have stopped any passer-by in the street and asked them what the word meant (or, for that matter, asked his servant!), the romantic view might be that the composer, having puzzled all night, went straight back to his desk to write Cleopatra’s desolate final aria ‘Convey me to some peaceful shore Where no tumultuous billows roar’. Whatever its genesis, that whole scene, capped by Cleopatra’s meltingly beautiful aria, is one of the most moving in all Handel’s oratorios.

The Biblical story For his libretto Morell took an episode from Chapters 10 and 11 of the first Book of Maccabees. From a dramatic point of view it is interesting to return to this Apocryphal text to see how Morell condenses and colours up the original story. The action takes place in Ptolomais in 150–145bc. King Demetrius of Syria, who has previously taken large tracts of Jewish land, has attempted to make a pact of friendship with Jonathan, the leader of the Jews since the death of Judas Maccabaeus. Demetrius hopes to prevent Jonathan taking sides against the Syrians with Alexander, Jonathan’s brother. Demetrius also tries to make a pact with Alexander, offering him and his people many concessions. But Jonathan remembers ‘the great evil that he had done in Israel; for he had afflicted them very sore’, and joins forces with Alexander. In battle Demetrius is slain; Alexander seizes the throne, and recovers the lands that had been taken. Alexander sends messengers to the Egyptian king, Ptolomee, offering a treaty of friendship and proposing that Ptolomee’s daughter Cleopatra should become his wife. The marriage takes place. Rumours emerge of a plot against Alexander, hatched by ‘certain pestilent fellows of Israel, men of a wicked life’. Alexander refuses to believe the news: he makes Jonathan ‘a duke, and partaker of his dominion’. Jonathan has great success in a series of battles, including sacking the city of Azotus, and burning the temple of Dagon: Alexander is well pleased. But a plot is now afoot from Ptolomee, who goes ‘about through deceit to get Alexander’s kingdom, and join it to his own’. He goes back on his word to Alexander, and offers his hapless daughter Cleopatra to the new King of Syria (also called Demetrius). The sides commanded by Ptolomee and Alexander meet in battle: Alexander is defeated, and flees into Arabia. There ‘Zabdiel the Arabian took off Alexander’s head, and sent it unto Ptolomee’. There is some justice in the story, for ‘King Ptolomee also died the third day after’; Demetrius reigns and makes peace with Jonathan.

Handel’s score—a synopsis ACT I—The two-section Ouverture to Alexander Balus finds Handel anxious to enter the drama as soon as possible: the opening is grand and rather serious, the following fugue busy. Alexander returns from battle in triumph: first woodwind, then trumpets and timpani, then the horns and finally the chorus of Asiates rejoice splendidly at the conquest over Demetrius. Alexander promises to be fair to the defeated Syrians and professes friendship, familial and political, with his brother Jonathan. Heralded by a trumpet fanfare, and then in the bustling aria ‘Thrice happy the monarch’, Ptolomee too states his peaceful intentions. The Egyptian ruler’s daughter Cleopatra enters, bringing one of Handel’s most exotic orchestrations: reminding us of the sensuous ‘eastern’ sounds that he employed in Giulio Cesare, Handel scores ‘Hark! hark! he strikes the golden lyre’ for a pair of flutes, pizzicato and arco strings (including divisi cellos), bassoon, organ, harp and mandolin. From within this effervescent pool of sound he employs a wonderfully imaginative variety of smaller groupings. Alexander answers with the elegantly pastoral ‘Fair virtue shall charm me’, based on ‘D’amor fu consiglio’ from La Resurrezione, also reworked around 1709/10 in the cantata Apollo e Dafne. As well as employing solo oboe and concertino violin, Handel divides the upper strings into four parts to create an especially rich string texture.

The militaristic colour of the horns returns with the Asiates, who further praise Alexander in a fine chorus ‘Ye happy nations round’, complete with a terrific orchestral bass line and a rousing unison restatement of the theme. But Alexander’s mind has moved towards matters of the heart, giving Handel an opportunity to introduce the romantic element of the plot. In ‘Oh, what resistless charms’ Alexander shows he has fallen for Cleopatra. She too, accompanied in the aria ‘Subtle love, with fancy viewing’ by shimmering violins, has found that both her eye and her heart have been diverted. The melody and accompaniment of the aria are based on ‘L’aure fresche’, a section of the fragmentary setting of La solitudine (1722/3). Cleopatra asks the opinion of her confidante, Aspasia, who answers Cleopatra’s aria ‘How happy should we mortals prove’ with her own, ‘So shall the sweet attractive smile’, before they join in the cheerful duet ‘O what pleasures, past expressing’.

Jonathan asks Alexander why he is preoccupied and, guessing the reason correctly, tells his brother to ask Ptolomee’s permission to marry Cleopatra. Alexander worries that, had he the whole world to give, this would not be enough ‘for such a gem’, echoing the sentiment in the ternary-form aria ‘Heroes may boast their mighty deeds’; in the middle section the ‘tardy-footed minutes’ fly especially swiftly in the violins. The sons of Judah rejoice: peace has descended on Israel, and Act I closes with Jonathan and the Israelites praising God for his blessings, first in a solemn hymn and then in the cheerful fugue ‘To thee let grateful Judah sing’.

ACT II—Act II begins with a love-sick Alexander singing the plaintive aria ‘Kind hope, thou universal friend’. His prayers are answered, for Jonathan brings the news not only that has Ptolomee has agreed to the marriage, but also that Cleopatra is waiting at Ptolomais. Alexander rejoices in the aria ‘O Mithra, with thy brightest beams’, where Handel employs a novel violinistic representation of the text: the unison octave jumps, easy on a harpsichord but technically much more demanding on a string instrument, must have tested his violinists. Alexander’s joy is cut short by a ‘Sycophant Courtier’, who tells him that there is a plot against his life and that the would-be assassin is none other than Jonathan. Alexander refuses to believe the news and prepares to honour Jonathan with a dukedom, singing the heroic aria ‘Mighty love now calls to arm’, which recycles a fine movement from La Resurrezione. Jonathan is furious at the imputation levelled at him and sings the vigorous aria ‘Hateful man!’, full of coloratura which must have tested Handel’s tenor Thomas Lowe (a singer rumoured to have been so stupid that ‘he never could be safely trusted with any thing better than a ballad, which he constantly learned by ear’). Stupid or not, he must have enjoyed a remarkably agile vocal technique.

The chorus responds to Jonathan’s aria with a powerful movement, ‘O calumny, on virtue waiting’, and Cleopatra too begins to show signs of ‘apprehension of I know not what’. She sums up her feelings in the extensive aria ‘Tossed from thought to thought’, whose middle-section harmonies (‘Love, thou pleasing, irksome guest’) are particularly expressive. Aspasia attempts to persuade her friend that Alexander is not only a good match, but also a good monarch.

The scene switches to the devious thoughts of Ptolomee, who reveals the wiles that he has concocted against Alexander—to ‘hurl this happy monarch from his fancied throne’ and replace him with the young Demetrius. His aria ‘Virtue, thou ideal name’ is a splendidly blustrous one. The Act ends with a sequence of three movements in which the Asiates celebrate the marriage of Cleopatra and Alexander: first comes a wedding chorus, ‘Triumph Hymen in the pair’ (added by Handel to his 1754 revival of the oratorio), then a charming duet between the newly-weds and finally a triumphant chorus ‘Hymen, fair Urania’s son’.

ACT III—The tone changes for the third Act: uncertainty fills the air, both in the brooding orchestral Sinfonia which introduces the proceedings, and in Cleopatra’s mood. Nature rarely ‘points at some approaching ill in vain’, yet she is very happy in her love of Alexander. Her aria ‘Here amid the shady woods’ is deliciously scored, with muted upper strings and pizzicato cellos. But the traditional ‘B’ section of the aria is rudely interrupted, in thoroughly operatic fashion, by a chorus of ‘ruffians’: they kidnap Cleopatra who, as she is carried off into the distance, cries for help.

Alexander hears Cleopatra’s calls, and calls on the ‘Pow’rful guardians of all nature’ to preserve his queen. Jonathan breaks the bad news that a series of Syrian towns have welcomed Ptolomee as a friend, but that the Egyptian King has then taken control of each city in turn. Alexander is more worried about the disappearance of Cleopatra, and it is Aspasia who reveals the story of the break-in and kidnap. Alexander is livid and sings the vigorous aria ‘Fury, with red sparkling eyes’, based on another movement from La Resurrezione. Amidst the bellicose statements comes a dramatic and vividly-contrasted premonition of what is to come later in the Act—of the ‘kind release’ that ‘cold death’ may bring. Here again, and wonderfully expressively, Handel is back in the opera house.

Aspasia is moved by the sight of ‘such majestic greatness in distress’ and comments on this ‘Strange reverse of human fate’. Jonathan wishes that Alexander would believe in the true God, rather than in the ‘creature gods’ in which he mistakenly trusts. The aria ‘To God who made the radiant sun’ is one of Handel’s finest: it leads into the chorus ‘Sun, moon, and stars’ which builds from its awe-struck opening to a neatly-crafted choral fugue at ‘On his creating, his all-saving pow’r’.

Ptolomee now tries to persuade his daughter that Alexander has been false to her. She will have none of it, and in her melancholy we are given another preview of the impending tragedy to come. Ptolomee shows his villainous colours in a malicious accompagnato and the aria ‘O sword, and thou, all daring hand’. Cleopatra is desolate in her mournful accompagnato ‘Shall Cleopatra ever smile again?’, but worse is to come. A messenger enters to tell her not only that has Alexander been defeated in battle, but also that after fleeing to Arabia he has been executed. Cleopatra’s aria ‘O take me from this hateful light’ is very moving, its opening six bars of unaccompanied vocal soliloquy broken by the entry of a gently dotted string accompaniment and sighing flutes. Handel’s emotional control is total. Another messenger enters: Ptolomee too is dead, slaughtered in battle. Cleopatra is now resigned, and sings the wonderful accompagnato ‘Calm thou my soul’. But capping all this is the jewel of the oratorio (Handel’s answer, perhaps, to ‘Dido’s Lament’), the deliciously wistful ‘Convey me to some peaceful shore’. Over understated, separated string chords, Cleopatra weaves a magically simple line: the vocal melody, the descending bass line and the plangent harmony of the final twelve bars would not go amiss in Elgar.

After such an extraordinary scene Jonathan is left to wind up the story, reminding the living that those who trust in other than the true God will always meet their fate. Handel’s finale is, perhaps not so surprisingly in view of the calamities that have befallen Cleopatra, unusually muted in its minor treatment of the traditionally lively Amens and Halleluias.

The original cast Handel’s original cast was a strong one. The title role was taken by Caterina Galli, a great favourite of Handel’s who specialized in playing male parts (Burney wrote that ‘there was always something spirited and interesting in her manner’). Cleopatra was played by Casarini, who enjoyed three years of popularity in London, appearing in Joshua, Alexander Balus and possibly Judas Maccabaeus, Aspasia by the German soprano Sibilla, Jonathan by the aforementioned Thomas Lowe and Ptolomee by Handel’s principal bass for many seasons, the German Henry Reinhold. By the 1754 revival all the cast bar Casarini was changed: with Alexander’s role now re-written for soprano, Galli swapped parts, playing Aspasia and taking several of the best arias for her new character. The changes have caused some confusion in editions, providing for alternative versions of arias and two sets of notes in several recitatives.

Recordings

'All Handelians will want this set' (Gramophone)'King and his musicians approach the piece with vitality and affection and, in so doing, carried me along from start to finish' (BBC Music Magazine)» More

This album is not yet available for downloadHYP202CDs Super-budget price sampler — Deleted

'More than just a highlight sampler. This is a classy collection, brought together with a great deal of care and attention to musical programming seldom found in this kind of CD … A stocking-filler any music lover would appreciate' (Scotland ...» More

'Hyperion and the Consort celebrate a decade together – fifty CDs – with an anthology of delights. Consistency of performance and of engineering is a ...'I must admit to being quite bowled over by this record. There is something especially infectious about Robert King's music-making [and] the recording ...» More

RECITATIVE Alexander: Thus far, ye glorious partners of the war, The pow’r on high hath prosper’d our designs. Demetrius is fall’n, and Syria bows To me, her lord, with universal joy. I will repay them with those royal virtues, Justice and clemency.

Jonathan: Most noble King! The sons of Israel (not less of peace Desirous, than alert and brave in war Whene’er their country calls) congratulate This your success; and gifts, yet more than gifts, Their hands and hearts they offer in firm league, As late accepted by imperial Rome.

Alexander: Thy boon is granted: be it wrote on brass, That Jonathan is Alexander’s friend; The hearts of brothers govern in our loves, And sway our great resolves.

RECITATIVE Ptolomee: And thus let happy Egypt’s king Speak his affection with the trumpet’s sound, That the surrounding nations all may know, Balus commands the pow’rs of Ptolomee, Or to secure, or to adorn his throne.

AIR Ptolomee: Thrice happy the monarch, whom nations contend, With counsels to guide, and with arms to defend: Secure stands the throne, that on concord relies, As by concord preserv’d are the earth and the skies.

RECITATIVE Cleopatra: Congratulation to our father’s friend, Amidst this general joy, directs our part. But how shall Cleopatra entertain The royal ear, unless Apollo’s self Deigns to attune to his own harp my song?

AIR Cleopatra: Hark! hark! he strikes the golden lyre, And tells it to his joyful choir, His Alexander reigns. Ye docile echoes, catch the sound And spread the blessing all around In sweet harmonious strains.

RECITATIVE Alexander: My Jonathan, Didst thou mark well her graces? didst thou feel The music of her eye? To me it seem’d More soft and sweet than her melodious voice. Beauty’s a pleasing tyranny, my friend, Which laughs at the reluctance of the will, And humbles to her lure the hearts of kings.

RECITATIVE Cleopatra: Aspasia, I know not what to call This interview. Grant, O ye pow’rs, it prove A happy one! but I am sick with doubt. Mark’d you the king, Aspasia? look’d he not A king indeed, while on his radiant brow, Deck’d with the rosy rays of youth, love seem’d To sit enthron’d and full of majesty?

RECITATIVE Aspasia: Check not the pleasing accents of thy tongue, Nor be asham’d, fair princess, to declare A passion for the brave. ’Tis a reward, Besides the honours of the well-fought field, They justly claim,—none else deserves the fair.

AIR Aspasia: So shall the sweet attractive smile, Winning graces, Soft embraces, Ever crown the soldier’s toil: When he a while forgets the noise Of loud alarms And clashing arms, To triumph in connubial joys.

RECITATIVE Jonathan: Ye sons of Judah, with high festival Proclaim this happy day. The sword is ceas’d In Israel; the captives are restor’d; And liberty, that life of life itself, And soul of property, directs her sons, To praise the donor with ecstatic joy.

AIR Alexander: Kind hope, thou universal friend, Sweet balm in all distress, Still, still a lover’s pray’r attend With fancied raptures of success. So shall my love-sick soul have ease, And make her voyage in smoother seas.

RECITATIVE Jonathan: Long, long and happy live the king! Thus speaks The messenger from Egypt: Ptolomee Greets thee his son, and Cleopatra, deck’d In all the lustre of a blooming bride, At Ptolomais waits the smiling hour.

Alexander: Thither let us haste, my Jonathan, And all the thorny cares of state apart, Seize the sweet hour, and revel in delight.

Alexander: ’Tis false! Avaunt, before I frown thee dead. Bring me, my Lords, the richest purple robe, And ducal crown: much more deserves my friend, My brother Jonathan, and more I will Exalt thee, best of men; for sacred is This day to honour, gratitude and love.

Jonathan: There is no greatness in mortality, That can tie up the gall in sland’rous tongues, Or ’scape th’ intended wounds of calumny. ’Tis a rough brake, the virtuous must go through; Ever in danger, and yet ever safe, In the protection of Almighty Pow’r.

RECITATIVE Cleopatra: Ah! whence these dire forebodings of the mind? Why droops my soul, when on the verge of bliss? Is he not brave? successful? good? a king? And all that can deserve return of love? Yet apprehension of I know not what Hangs heavy on my soul and checks the rising joy.

RECITATIVE Aspasia: Give to the winds, fair princess, these vain doubts And anxious fears; nor think that they arise From skill prophetic in the book of fate: But from pure nature, that with decent strife, ’Twixt hope and fear, views th’approaching scene.

AIR Aspasia: Love, glory, ambition, whate’er can inspire A flame that is lasting or purest desire, Unite in the choice of a monarch so great, To make ev’ry joy, ev’ry blessing complete. Then give to the winds these disconsolate tears, When the promising morn of all comfort appears.

RECITATIVE Ptolomee: Thus far my wishes thrive. With eager joy Fond Alexander rushes on the toils. Friend, brother, son or whate’er he be, he falls; He falls to my ambition. ’Twas for this I gave him Cleopatra, and for this With other arts will strengthen our alliance, Till I can work his ruin. Yes, I’ve fawn’d, But only to devour; and soon will hurl This happy monarch from his fancied throne: To seat therein whom I can better rule, The young Demetrius.

RECITATIVE Cleopatra: ’Tis true, instinctive nature seldom points At some approaching ill in vain. But sure, In vain were all my former doubts and fears: For I am happy, happy beyond thought, In this bright scene of ever constant joy.

RECITATIVE Alexander: Ah! was it not my Cleopatra’s voice? The voice of Cleopatra in distress? It cannot be.—What beast can leap these walls? Or man more bold and fierce that dares invade Our royal privacy?—Yet she was here, And I did promise to partake with her The sweet and solid pleasures of retirement.

RECITATIVE Jonathan: Treach’ry, O king, unheard of treachery Stalks through the kingdom with gigantic steps, And glories in success. The Syrian towns Have Ptolomee receiv’d with open gates, As your kind friends and father. Ent’ring thus He with Egyptian soldiers garrison’d Each place, and now at Antioch hath assum’d The double crown of Egypt and of Asia.

AIR Jonathan: To God who made the radiant sun, And fix’d him in his central throne, The paler moon, and ev’ry star, That darts his beamy light from far; To Him, almighty, greatest, best, Jehovah, Lord of Hosts confest, All victory belongs. To him alone ’tis Judah’s care, To offer up their humble pray’r And tune their grateful songs.

RECITATIVE Ptolomee: Yes he was false, my daughter, false to you. And hath conspir’d against thy father’s life. Self-preservation, and paternal care For you, my child, oblig’d me to dethrone This kingly counterfeit. Then think no more Of the lost Alexander, but receive A worthier hero, whom thy father will.

Cleopatra: Impossible! he never could be false To me, or you; so brave! so just! so good! But oh! indulge me once more with the sight, The last farewell, of him, to whom I’m bound By nature’s strongest tie, connubial love.

RECITATIVE Messenger: Ungrateful tidings to the royal ear, I bring, O queen; but such the will of fate. The valiant Jew hath vanquish’d thrice his foes, Whom, flying to Azotus, he pursued, And destruction on their city pour’d, Not sparing Dagon’s temple, or the god; And now returns in triumph.—But the king, Alas! the king, o’erpower’d by Ptolomee, Your father, and deserted by his host Sought refuge in Arabia, but in vain: For treach’rous Zabdiel, heeding not the pray’r, That he pour’d forth in bitterness of soul, Not for himself, but you, his queen, his life, Hath with remorseless sword smote off his head.

AIR Cleopatra: Convey me to some peaceful shore, Where no tumultuous billows roar, Where life, though joyless, still is calm, And sweet content is sorrow’s balm. There free from pomp and care, to wait, Forgetting and forgot, the will of fate.

RECITATIVE Jonathan: Mysterious are thy ways, O Providence! But always true and just. By thee king’s reign, By thee they fall—Where now is Egypt’s boast? Where thine, O Syria?—laid low in dust; While chosen Judah triumphs in success, And feels the presence of Jehovah’s arm. Mindful of this, let Israel ever fear, With filial reverence, his tremendous name, And with obsequious hearts exalt his praise.